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Faith and Followers

A letter in response to Adam Gopnik’s article (August 13 & 20, 2012)

While I found Gopnik’s article to be thought-provoking, at least some points relating to Brigham Young require clarification. Gopnik writes of Young’s “brutality.” In support of this characterization, he cites a hyperbolic statement that Young made advocating severe punishment for serious offenses, and his implied association with the tragic Mountain Meadows Massacre. What is unstated in the article is that when Young heard of a possible violent assault by some southern Utah residents upon a travelling wagon train, he immediately dispatched a letter from Salt Lake City with a message to let the California-bound immigrants pass without interference. Sadly, the terrible deed was done before Young could stop it. As a near-lifelong student of Young’s life, and as one of his descendants, I am aware that on occasion he used less than temperate speech, but my impression is of a man of firm resolve and toughness, never brutality. My study of Young has revealed enough instances of saving lives, ministering to the poor, building communities of productive families, patronizing the arts, and promoting a liberal education to fill volumes.